Hostile Stanford University students descended on an on-campus event featuring the reigning Miss Israel and an Israel Defense Forces soldier — angrily confronting the pair before an agitator ripped away a sign advertising the apperance.

The run-in occurred on Wednesday, when beauty queen Melanie Shiraz and an unidentified IDF soldier set up in the university’s White Plaza for an “Ask Us Anything” event to engage with students.

After protesters arrived and began arguing with the duo, one student snatched the “Ask Us Anything” sign from their table — leading the soldier to tackle him to the ground, according to The Stanford Daily.

The student, Margil Sanchez Carmona, offered no apologies for swiping the sign.

“I don’t regret taking the poster. If I were presented with the opportunity to do it again, I still would,” he told the Daily.

After stealing the sign, the IDF soldier “launched at [Sanchez Carmona] from the side,” knocking him off his bike, the student said. He said the soldier then placed him in a chokehold for “a couple of seconds.” 

Shiraz told The Daily that the soldier believed Sanchez Carmona may have taken from the table a virtual reality headset, which the pair had hand to show video of the tragic Nova music festival massacre in Israel during the October 7 attacks.

Campus police responded to the scene, but it’s unclear if any arrests were made.

The university said the incident is under investigation and that its Department of Public Safety would provide the results to the county district attorney’s office.

“White Plaza is a designated free speech zone, and Stanford is committed to ensuring that it is a space where all individuals can safely and openly express their views,” a statement from Stanford said. “We strongly encourage peaceful expression and civil discourse, including on difficult topics.

Shiraz told the Daily she had hoped for “productive dialogue” with students at the event and to “reach some kind of, if not understanding, at least a little bit of empathy between us.”

She described the agitators as “hateful” and “violent,” adding that they said “nasty things.”

“Little by little more of their friends started showing up, to the point where we were encapsulated by this group,” Shiraz recalled.

Sanchez Carmona claimed that Shiraz and the soldier used personal insults against the students.

The student is member of the Stanford Democrats, which condemned both his conduct and the “excessive force” allegedly used by the IDF soldier.

Many on social media decried Sanchez Carmona’s actions.

“So the student stole a sign because they didn’t like what was written on it,” one commenter wrote. “Theft is a violation of the penal code. Maybe they should contact the esteemed Stanford Law to learn something.”

“It’s mob rule,” another added, “what the mob says is allowed to be said is the only thing you’re allowed to say.”

The clash comes after recent incidents at both UCLA and the University of California, Berkeley.

UCLA’s student association condemned an April 14 appearance by Hamas hostage Omer Shem Tov, complaining that the event organized by the school’s Jewish organization didn’t provide a Palestinian perspective.

Shem Tov, who was taken hostage by Hamas in the October 7 attacks, was released from captivity in February 2025 after 505 days.

He exclusively told The California Post that he believed the students should pause and consider their “worldview” after decrying his appearance.

“When a worldview requires you to override your own values, something is misaligned. The hope is that it’s the worldview that changes — because the values are worth keeping,” he said.

At Berkeley, a failed Palestinian suicide bomber was feted by students Monday during a “Palestinian Political Prisoners Day” event.

Israa Jaabis, who was released from an Israeli jail in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange related to the October 7 attacks, spoke to students at the university’s law school for the “teach-in” organized by UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine.

Protests by pro-Palestinian college students have been increasingly common in the US, with some of the most prominent and violent taking place at UCLA.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the university and moved to restrict its funding, alleging it failed to address antisemitic harassment and a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students.

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